Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers was a Heisman contender coming into the 2024 season, but he has not lived up to that billing.
Ewers has had a rollercoaster of a year, and that has led many in Austin to begin clamoring for the star-studded Arch Manning to see the field in a bigger role. Of course, it didn't help Ewers that in the time that Manning has been on the field, he has looked every bit of the billing.
On the season, Manning has completed 67.8% of his passes for 939 yards and nine touchdowns to just two interceptions. Earlier this season, Texas replaced Ewers with Manning briefly at the end of the first half against Georgia. Ultimately, Ewers came back in the second half and played better, though the Longhorns still fell 30-15 to the Bulldogs.
Since that point, it seemed that Ewers was playing fine, completing more than 70% of his passes against Vanderbilt and Florida, including a performance against the Gators last weekend that included 333 yards passing and five touchdowns to no interceptions.
The problem? It just seems to look easier with Manning on the field.
Fast-forward to this weekend and Texas is leading Arkansas 10-0 at halftime. Ewers has completed 15-of-23 passes for 100 yards and one interception. Though his stats aren't terrible, the Texas offense is clearly missing that top-end gear that it once had with Ewers at the helm.
Now, many Texas fans are hopeful to see a quarterback change soon, especially after a couple of bad sacks he took against the Razorbacks.
The Quinn Ewers era cant be done soon enough man.. dude has some of the worst feet and pocket presence in CFB
— HTown Brodie (@BodieWeeBey) November 16, 2024
I’m laughing looking back on the first 2 Quinn ewers sacks today.
— Picky Numbers (@NumbersPicky) November 16, 2024
Texas offensive line picked up blitz correctly… Quinn ewers just GOT scared and panicked and caused the sacks to happen due to his inability to move around in the pocket. He is serious overrated as a QB ever
At some point Texas has to look at Quinn Ewers and just say you’re not the guy, you can’t have this talented roster go to waste
— Sports UP. (@officialsportsu) November 16, 2024
texas has a good defense, Quinn Ewers is trash we ain't winning no national championship with him
— Nix Sr (@MrNixon357) November 16, 2024
There’s so many points left on the board when Quinn Ewers is your QB1 but hey every now and then he has a drive where he hits some slants to boost his completion percentage or his receivers get a ton of YAC and suddenly he’s in folks heisman talks again
— HTown Brodie (@BodieWeeBey) November 16, 2024
One of the major critiques of Ewers has been his pocket presence. He has seemingly lost a step of confidence getting the ball out quickly. Though Texas has one of the deepest wide receiver groups in the country, they simply don't seem to be activated with Ewers the way that the Longhorns were hoping coming into the season.
So, the question is this: Would Steve Sarkisian make the choice to bench Ewers and go with Arch Manning down the stretch of the season?
Texas is still hopeful to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff, and going with sophomore Arch Manning would certainly be a risk. But, knowing what you have with Ewers, is taking the risk worth it?
Right now, Texas has not made the decision to move on from Quinn Ewers, but it will be interesting to see if he can turn it around, or if Sarkisian is forced to make a tough decision.